The Wheel of Destiny has spoken again and this time, it’s taking us to the clandestine island restaurant venue for Hawthorne. While it wasn’t the darker horror film that the first trailers initially made me hopeful for, The Menu was still a stylish dark-comedy-satire that takes pride in the presentation and plating of its thriller and humor elements.
A dozen or so select guests travel to a private island restaurant as an exhibition of their opulent wealth but, when they arrive, there is more than just gourmet curated dishes on the menu.
At the time the second trailer was released, the tone was decidedly different from the vibes I got from the first teasers. So, I was less overtly enthusiastic about rushing out to see it but figured it would be a good pairing with the Thanksgiving holiday.
Director Mark Mylod has been pretty busy since 2018 directing many episodes of my favorite film on TV (Succession) and doing fantastic work, so it is nice to see him getting to direct his first feature film since 2011. It seems like he took that scathing contempt for the elitist behavior of the wealthy and a wry sense of humor from the show and rolled that up into what is a ridiculous but fun and twisted night out at the world’s most exclusive restaurant.
Even though the subject matter does get fairly dark as the film unravels its secrets, the tone is decidedly less serious than what I was expecting and the movie is the better for it. Seth Reiss and Will Tracy were both writing for The Onion News Network at the same time and went on to write for Late Night with Seth Meyers and Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, so it’s reasonable to say that satire and sarcasm are in their creative DNA.
That is expressed most directly through the characters of Tyler and Margot, played respectively by Nicholas Hoult and Anya Taylor-Joy. Tyler is the pretentious type. A super fan of Head Chef Slowick, played by Ralph Fiennes, he over-embellishes every aspect of the experience starting on the dock before they even head over to the exclusive island restaurant. Once there, he is like an eager little puppy, desperate for his master’s approval. Margot is there circumstantially and mostly as a courtesy to Tyler. She doesn’t care and that dynamic sets the table for the evening’s mystery to unfold.
Hoult is one of the brightest spots in the film. His head is so far up his own ass and he is so smug, there is no way it isn’t funny. That’s the point though, his character’s design and dialogue are designed to drive home the point that what we’re watching is satire. Fiennes is exceptional, as always. His character and motivations may be unrealistic, but he is so impassive in his portrayal that you have to take it seriously. He is a highly skilled professional while Tyler is an imposter and that dichotomy frames the whole experience because it’s essentially Slowick’s abhorrence of Tyler or people like him that is the catalyst.
The rest of the supporting cast is a sprinkling of personalities along the spectrum between those two. John Leguizamo’s movie star character is there mostly as a display of ego, the couple played by Reed Birney and Judith Light are regulars at the exclusive Hawthorne restaurant but don’t appreciate it. They go because they can and because it means they are rich enough to do so. Janet McTeer and Paul Adelstein are a fabulous pairing as a renowned food critic, Lillian, and what I have to imagine is her editor, Ted. For them, it’s not so much ego as it is a measure of status and power. The idea is that she had a hand in the chef’s success because of her words. That she is somehow owed something in the wake of that success. Then there are the hedge fund guys, Rob Yang, Mark St, Cyr, and Arturo Castro who are there on the dime of the investment firm that supports the restaurant. Another set of hollow suits only buoyed at the behest of someone with actual influence in this world. All of these characters stand as different examples of the poisonous nature of wealth.
None of those characters I mentioned actually create anything of substance, at least not in the story we get. They exist as consumers who think their money makes them special. That they can treat everything around them as disposable. That’s part of what makes Hon Chau’s Elsa stand out in the room. She plays Slowick’s sous chef who is completely loyal despite the outlandish requests of her boss and the increasingly dramatic evening. It’s because she believes in something bigger than herself. She is beholden to the idea that creating something of substance has real value and I love how Mylod, Reiss, and Tracy were able to weaponize that on screen.
Initially, I was a little disappointed that this wasn’t a straight horror film and my expectations slipped. However, it is a very interesting balancing act as a piece of dark comedy/satire and it needs its humor to succeed. On the one hand, we get to poke at all the rich elites who fancy themselves important, but on the other hand, we as the average moviegoer get to look on in awe and imagine a world where we would get to dine at such a place. Even when we know there’s something ominous going on, we are challenged to pick sides. Do you start feeling sympathy for the pompous arrogant characters who you didn’t like? That’s the real question at hand and it’s one that is asked often on Succession. Breaking that tension with humor and some healthy envy of the characters’ position is a bigger challenge and ultimately more rewarding than just making this a straightforward horror film.
Recommendation: See it for the style, the escapism, and the script that is going to ask something of you.
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